The general consensus is that Social Security replaces around 40% of your pre-retirement income. The reality is that half of all single people depend on their Social Security benefits to replace close to 90% of their pre-retirement income, says the Social Security Administration (SSA). From the start, the only way…
Many of you may recall when President John F. Kennedy founded the Peace Corps in 1961 and may have even signed up as a volunteer to help provide social and economic development assistance abroad. Borrowing on this model, an initiative is underway to establish an internal national volunteer care corps…
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently released a set of helpful guides to help individuals manage the financial affairs of loved ones or others who are unable to do so and require a fiduciary to take of such matters. The guides cover multiple topics to help fiduciaries, including how…
Aside from federal and state tax, estate planning is a vital process for anyone seeking a risk-free future for they family. Without formation of a will, estate, or trust, assets are distributed pursuant to state law in the jurisdiction of residence of the decedent. The estate planning process ensures that…
When planning an international trust, a Clifford Trust will allow a grantor to transfer high net worth assets that produce taxable income into an estate’s trust with the option of reclaim at time of trust expiry. Though used little at present, the Clifford Trust offers the opportunity for high net…
When retirement investors are considering assets for estate or trust transfer, one of the main priorities is the impact of risk. In the past several years, cryptocurrency assets have increased in popularity. Until 2017, Bitcoin and other digital currency assets were also considered as tax-exempt “property” under federal Internal Revenue…
A Kings County Surrogate’s Court judge recently removed the executor to an estate without a hearing over the individual’s failure to comply with the court’s order to properly account of the estate’s assets. The case is a prime example of how and why someone can be removed as the executor…
The record of retirement investment and trust fund fraud is extensive, and not restricted to sales agents, fiduciaries, and retirement investment advisers. In New York, attorney malpractice in the area of retirement investment and estate planning has led to professional activism by the New York Bar Association and national…
New York laws of intestacy and probate do not allow an executor to sell real estate or property belonging to a decedent’s estate where no will is present without official appointment by the Surrogate’s Court of the jurisdiction where the case has been filed. If a decedent’s will does not…
A King County Surrogate’s Court judge recently handed down a significant ruling in the case of a caretaker who appeared to marry her elderly patient in his final days in an effort to claim part of the deceased’s estate. The judge hearing the case decided the woman forfeited her statutory…